Psychological Neglect and the Sense of Parental Competence in Parental Couples: Mindfulness as an Underlying Mechanism

The sense of parental competence refers to one’s judgment of one’s own parenting abilities and plays a critical role in parental functioning. Studies have shown a link between childhood interpersonal traumas and a lower sense of parental competence. Yet, psychological neglect, a more subtle but still devastating childhood trauma, and its association with the sense of parental competence remain understudied. Mindfulness disposition (i.e., capacity to act with awareness, to observe, and to describe one’s internal and external experiences without reactivity or judgment) could help to understand this link, as survivors of psychological neglect report lower mindfulness dispositions, which might lead to a lower sense of parental competence.

This study aimed to examine the direct and indirect relationship between psychological neglect and the sense of parental competence through mindfulness disposition in parental couples.

A Canadian sample of 871 heterosexual parental couples randomly selected from the Quebec parental insurance plan’s list of new births was recruited. Both parents completed self-reported questionnaires assessing psychological neglect, mindfulness disposition, and the sense of parental competence.

Path analysis revealed significant associations between a higher level of psychological neglect and a lower sense of parental competence (R²_mothers = 11.6%; R²_fathers = 10.8%) through their own and their partners’ lower mindfulness disposition.

The findings suggest that mindfulness disposition could be a promising target for intervention with parents who are survivors of childhood neglect, and they emphasize the importance of using a dyadic perspective when examining parental couples.